Bookie Woogie

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Earlier this year we shared 20 favorite books of 2014 here and here. After reading hundreds and hundreds of picture books, we are happy to present 10 more favorite titles that crossed our path at the close of the year. The kids are each choosing one to highlight:

Dad:Gracie’s kicking us off with “A Bean, a Stalk, and a Boy
Named Jack” by William Joyce and Kenny Callicutt.

Gracie (age 14):The story was kind of like Jack and the Beanstalk, and I
thought “Oh, everybody knows that story.”But it was different.

Dad:Twisty.

Gracie:Yeah, actually very different.I like the twist.Straightforward tellings are nice, but I
don’t know if people would listen to that anymore.This generation is lost.In this book there was a bean, Jack, and a
giant.And those were the only
similarities.No golden goose, no harp,
no Fee Fi Fo Fum.

Dad:You’re right… no Fumming…

Gracie:The giant was just a giant kid in a bathtub, chilling
out.

Dad:Now, the twist wasn’t ironic or sarcastic.The book wasn’t turning the story on its
head.

Gracie:Oh no.There were
no mega-huge-surprises.It was just a
different way to tell the story.Some
giant kid at the top of the beanstalk was in the bathtub, using up all the
water in the clouds.What the people
below don’t know is that when it starts raining again, it’s stinky bathwater.That’s gross.

Dad:What things stand out to you about the art?I love the art in this book.

Gracie:On every page, the sky is ginormous and the characters
are miniscule.Very tiny.But it works.I think he did it on purpose because the characters are just a smallish
normal boy and a smallish normal bean.He’s putting emphasis on how small and normal they are.

Dad:The big empty backgrounds also make it more powerful when
the stalk explodes out of the ground.If
the first half of the book had been full and busy, that moment wouldn’t have
been as shocking.

Gracie:The stalk is BIG.It’s cool.I like how it looks
textured.

Dad:Everything up to that point had been small, small, small…
and then…

Gracie:That stalk is like – WOAH – gettin’ all up in your
face.And it’s twisty.That’s a reoccurring thing in the art –
everything is twisty.

Dad:The vines, the clouds, the princess’ ribbon.Even the dirt flying up was twisty.

Gracie:That’s what I said.Reoccurrence.

Dad:Anything else?We
talked about the backgrounds.What do
you think about the characters?

Gracie:Dang, that wizard’s beard is so long.And is that bird on every page?That’s cute.That bird needs a name.I shall
call him “Dave.”And the king in this
book is taking “embarrassing-dad” to a whole new level.He's not a very good ruler.I can see why Princess Jill was
embarrassed... “Dad!Stop making the nuns cry all over your feet…”

Lily (age 11):“Louise Loves Art” by Kelly Light.It is about a girl who is doing her art-stuff.And she draws her
masterpiece.She also has a brother
named Art.And the brother draws all over her
picture…

Dad:Oh horrors…

Lily:But I think he does it to be like her.Because she has red glasses, and he is
drawing red glasses on the picture.He wants to
be an artist like her.

Dad:He wants to follow in the footsteps of his big sis.

Lily:While she was trying to figure out where the masterpiece
goes on the fridge, the little brother cuts it up.And she’s like, “NOOOOOO....”Then poor Art feels bad because Louise is
really sad.Then she looks at it and
sees that Art made the paper into him and her holding hands, and then she says it’s
okay, and she loves it.So she puts it
on the fridge, and they go draw together.

Dad:Lovely.

Lily:That’s what happens.But I think the book is really about how she was kind of carried away
with her masterpiece art, and she didn’t really pay much attention to her
brother Art.She thought her brother had
ruined her thing, but she realized he was doing it because he loved her.

Dad:So she didn’t have Louise-Rage.

Lily:Well, she got mad.

Dad:But she didn’t whack him or anything.

Lily:No.She loves Art.
And art.If you didn’t know her brother’s name was also named Art, you’d be so
confused.

Dad:Have any of the kids in our family ever frustrated you?

Lily:The other day I drew the perfect picture of Catbug, and
Evie drew on it.

Dad:Did you have Lily-Rage?

Lily:I told her she had to ask before drawing on other
people’s pictures.

Dad:The illustration where Louise has paper with drawings
spread out everywhere reminds me a lot of how you draw.When I was your age, I would work on one
picture for a long time.But you are
about Volume.You grab a stack of paper
and sit there cranking out drawings until the stack is gone.

Lily:I’m fast at it. I
draw pictures of what I’m thinking about.Pictures pop into my head.Then I’ll
have new idea related to the picture I just drew.And it goes on and on like that.But the last picture will end up totally
different from the beginning.

Dad:In the book, Louise says that art is “my imagination on the
outside.”That sounds like what you’re
describing.

Lily:Yeah!Ha ha…I have weird things that pop into my
head.It’s very interesting.I draw pretty much everything.On
everything.Sometimes on my
homework.Kelly Light was probably that
kind of kid too, or her pictures probably wouldn’t look this good.Because it takes practice.

Lily:You did a good job, Kelly Light!Go Kelly go!I like your story.It’s cute and
lovely.Lovely, lovely.

Dad:What book do you have Elijah?Elijah (age 9):Sam and Dave Dig a Hole.

Dad:And you had to fight for this book, didn’t you.

Elijah:Yes.It’s the best
book.Half the kids wanted to review
this one.

Dad:The author is Mac Barnett...

Elijah:He also wrote the book “Oh No.”

Dad:And a different guy illustrated this one – Jon Klassen.He also did “I Want My Hat Back” and “This is
Not My Hat.”

Elijah:And look – Sam and Dave are wearing hats too.

Dad:But nobody dies in this book.Or do
they....

Elijah:Yeah, the ending is confusing.

Dad:Tell me about this book...

Elijah:A guy named Sam and a guy named Dave dig a hole.They want to find something cool and
exciting.But they find dirt.So they decide to turn another way.But if they went straight down they would
have found diamonds.Every time they
change direction, they were almost to the diamonds.And the diamonds get bigger and bigger and
bigger.This is just – oh my goodness –
that’s not possible!The diamond is so
big!!I’m just sad for them.

Dad:Do Sam and Dave feel bad?

Elijah:Nope.They have no idea there are diamonds.

Dad:Do they ever find anything exciting?

Elijah:Yes.The bottom of
the world.

Dad:This book is kind of divided into two halves.The first half is about digging holes and
missing diamonds.What is the second
half about?Is it clear what happens in
the second half of the book?

Elijah:Yeah.Sam and Dave fall
through the bottom of the world.

Dad:Well, there is some hot debate about that…

Elijah:There is?

For anyone who hasn’t
yet read the fantastic “Sam and Dave Dig a Hole,” Elijah and I delve into some
theories about the ending that get pretty spoilerish.Have you read the book?Do you want to know what Elijah and I think
happened?You can read that part of our
conversation by clicking HERE…

Elijah:Do you think the authors actually know what happens
at the end? Or did they write it that
way on purpose so people could make up theories?

Dad:That would be a good question for them.So Elijah, do you think there is anything hiding in our yard that we could
find if we just knew where to dig?Elijah:Maybe Indian bones.Because a lot of
Native Americans lived around here.Ojibwe.And Chippewa -- they are the same thing.

Dad:We dig in the snow more than in the dirt.

Elijah:Yeah, so we never find anything.

Dad:Are there any lessons to learn from this book?

Elijah:Dig straight.

Dad:Evie, what is your story pick?

Evangeline (age 6):Hug Machine.

Dad:By Scott Campbell.And who exactly is the Hug Machine?

Evangeline:A little boy.He
hugs everything.He might be pretending
he is a machine.

Dad:Do you know anyone who hugs as much as he does?

Evangeline:You are a hugger.I am a hugger.We hug all the
time.

Dad:Tell me about the hugs in this book…

Evangeline:The boy starts out hugging his mom and his dad and his
sister.Then he starts hugging other
people.He also hugs a bear and a
turtle.Then he hugs a fire hydrant, a
mailbox-thingie-ma-jigger, and a tree.

Dad:Why do you think he hugs so much?

Evangeline:Hugs never have to stop.When you are sad or when you hurt your feelings, you get a hug.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Today we are happy to share an interview with Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen! She has written over 30 books for children and also runs the blog Nerdy Chicks Rule. I had the privilege of illustrating one of her latest picture books called Orangutangled. Three of the Z-Girls and I chatted about the book, and then Sudipta joined in for an interview about the origins and inspirations behind Orangutangled. As is typical, writer and illustrator didn't interact at all during the
creation of the book, so this interview is the first time we've ever actually talked together. Thanks for the conversation, Sudipta! (portrait by Gracie)

Dad:Okay girls, who can tell us about
Orangutangled?

Evangeline (age 6):Some monkeys wake up and
are looking for food. They see some
mangoes. They reach and try to grab
them, but they all fall down. Lily (age 11):And when they fell out of
the tree, it splatted all the mangoes. Gracie (age 14):Juice everywhere.Evangeline:The monkeys all get
sticky’d and tangled up. Then they
rolled, and some more persons got tangled up too. More and more and more persons.Dad:Persons?Evangeline:Well, not persons.Gracie:A yak and a boar...Dad:So is that it? Tangled up.
The end.Evangeline:No, no, no, no, no. That’s not the end. Because we still have to tell the part where
there is a tiger, and they are all like, “Ahh! Teeth! The teeth are making me
scared!” The animals just don’t like the
look of the scary teeth.Gracie:He’s going to eat them.Evangeline:They rolled and rolled and
rolled, and the tiger gets knocked in the water.Lily:And at the end he’s
floating away on a log in the ocean.
It’s kind of sad. Poor little
tiger.Evangeline:It’s an awesome story.Lily:Where does the tiger go?Dad:He’s going to look for Pi.Gracie:(rolling eyes) Gosh,
Dad. That was bad, Dad.Lily:He means, “The Life of
Pi,” Grace.Gracie:I know. That was such a bad joke.Dad:What’s your favorite part
of the story, Evie?Evangeline:I like the biggest
tangle. When everybody is tangled, even the tiger.Gracie:The tiger is adorable.Lily:I think this story must
have been fun to illustrate.Gracie:I like the baby yak and
the little bird and the expression on the tiger’s face. Lily:I like the fact that the
yak is a mom and not just a plain yak.Gracie:The yak’s a woman.Dad:That’s something I would
love to ask the author. Why did she write “mama yak”? She could have picked any adjective. Hairy.
Sleepy. Happy. Why “mama”?
The fact that she’s a mom really doesn’t have anything to do with the rest of
the story. But it led to big
ramifications for the illustrations.Lily:Well, I think it makes
sense. Because a mother would be more likely to come help out than some random lady
would.Gracie:A mom would be the first
person to help. A mom would be the most
sympathetic. She’d be the first person
to say, “Oo – I have to help those poor people.”Lily:It makes sense.Dad:Alright, we’ll ask and see! Now, have you guys ever gotten tangled up
before?Gracie:I got my head stuck in a
chair once when I was little.Dad:I remember that!Gracie:Actually, it wasn’t my head – it was my whole
body. My waist got stuck between the
rungs of a chair. You had to use butter
to get me out, and that didn’t work. So
you put shampoo in there, and that didn’t work.
And we didn’t want to cut up the chair because it was one of our nice
dining room chairs.Dad:How did we end up getting
you out?Gracie:You just kept putting more
and more butter and shampoo on me.Lily:Hee hee hee!Dad:I think that sounds like a
new book idea!Gracie:There were large clumps of
butter all up and down my waist.Lily:Once at church I got my
hair snarled around a button on Ashleigh’s shirt. A teacher had to come save us.Dad:Was it a mama
teacher? Let’s put your theory to the
test.Lily:Actually, yes it was.Dad:Any last words about the
book before we start the interview?Gracie:It’s fun. I think children would really enjoy
this. Kids love rhymes. Kids love brightly colored animals. And what kid doesn’t love juice?!?

And now for our interview with Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen!

Gracie: Hi!!!

Dad: How are you?Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: Hello, I’m doing well. There are a zillion of you…Dad: Well, three of the kids
are here… Three nerdy chicks...Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: It feels like a zillion to
me. I’m so happy with the way
the book came out, and I hope you are too. When my son saw the book,
he said “I want to draw like that.” Dad: Aw, that’s cool! A great compliment, especially coming from a
family member of the author. Well, does
someone want to launch in with a question?
Do you want to go first, Evie?
This is the first time Evie has joined us for an interview.Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I’m so excited – this is
the first time I’ve joined you for an interview too.Dad: Go ahead…Evangeline: When did the idea for
Orangutangled start?Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I came up with the idea
many, many years ago. I really like
wordplay, and I was sitting down with a list of zoo animals. I got to “Orangutan” and thought, “What word could I change a little to make
something funny out of this.” And
when I found “Tangled,” I immediately had this idea of orangutans with their
big long arms all tied up in a ball. But
it’s a big journey from an idea like that to a finished story. Gracie:It takes a long time.Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: Two years is a long time
to spend on one story that can be read at bedtime in 7 minutes. But it’s super cool that when I publish a
book, my name is on the cover. I think
it’s important that when your name is on something, you are really proud of it. You need to take the time until you get the
right ideas.Gracie: I’m not a rusher.Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: Good
for you. So I had the idea of being tangled. And that made me think
about a big mess. And a big mess made me think of a bad
day. And when you have a bad day it can feel
like it’s rolling and snowballing out of control. Sometimes when things
look terrible, it’s
really hard to remember that it gets better.
You can be covered in mango juice… and tangled up with an orangutan… and
a tiger… and it looks like you are going to drown in the ocean… but then
everything works out. It’s about keeping
the faith. It’s easy to do when things
are going well. But when things are
tough, it’s really hard to believe that it's all going to work out.Gracie: Woah. Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: Hah ha ha…Dad: Did you realize the story
was so deep? A picture of hope?Gracie:I know there are books
like that out there with a bunch of symbolism.
But I never really expect that from children’s
books. Lily: It sounds all spiritual.Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: There are a lot of things
that authors do that no one else is aware of.Gracie: Sometimes we interview
people and talk about silly things like giraffes on jet skis. And sometimes we interview people, and within
the first two seconds it’s like, we’re
going to have to have an adult conversation...Lily: In a LOT of your books
there are people who make messes. I was
wondering if that is inspired by your kids.
Or were you messy when you were younger? Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I’ll tell you a secret –
I’m still messy. My kids’ bedrooms are
pretty clean because they have a mom who is yelling at them saying “Go clean up
your room!” But my room is just mess
because no one yells at me in my house. Dad: Any messes around our
house?Evangeline: Uh, yes.Lily: In every single room of
the house.Dad: And whose fault is that?(Everyone points to Evie)Dad: Oh! All the fingers are pointing the same
way... And Evie doesn’t appear to be
denying it...Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I have three kids, and
yeah – there’s a lot of mess. And different kinds of
messes. You can literally drop paint all
over the floor, but you can also make mistakes that make a mess of things. What is great about family is
that when you’re with the people who love you, they can help you through the
mess. I think I try to work with that theme
a lot in my writing because as a parent it’s what I’m telling my kids. But as a person, I have to remind myself of
that too. It’s okay when I make mistakes;
it’s not the end of the world.Gracie: Woah, more deep
symbolism... Family! Love! Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: We all
have those moments -- in my life I’ve had a LOT of those moments. In many of my stories I try to highlight the
mistakes people make. Not because I am
trying to put them down -- I’m actually trying to show that in real
relationships these mistakes shouldn’t matter.
A lot of times we can look back and laugh them off. When you guys make a mess,
even when your parents are upset, do you ever feel that they are going to stop
loving you?Evangeline: Nope.Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: Isn’t that awesome? Doesn’t that feel great to know there are
people who are always going to love you no matter what you do?Evangeline: Yeah.Gracie: Are any of the characters
in your books inspired by someone specific that you know?Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: Yes. Although most of the time... the character is
me. I write about the people - and for
the people - who are close to me. Gracie: I never really thought
about it, but I do that too. My friend
Katie and I write stories for each other.
And we write about things we know a lot about. Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I write about things that
are important in my life. They are important, even if they are things I
don’t like. For instance, when I pick names for
the bad guys in my books, I think about kids who are mean to my children, and I
use their names. That’s a lesson kids
should learn! If you are mean to my children, I’m going to make you a bad guy in my book!Gracie:Ha ha ha ha…Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: So that’s something important
to me in a different way. I don’t like
what those kids are doing, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t go tell someone else’s kids how to
behave. In life you get what you
get. But when you write a story you have
complete control. You can give your
characters the ending they deserve.
Sometimes they deserve to be happy.
And sometimes they deserve...Dad: …to be floating on a log
in the middle of the ocean.Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: Exactly!
That’s really powerful. We can’t control the world. That’s not what
life is. But when we write, we can make the world what
we want.Lily: Which character are you in
Orangutangled?Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I am… the shorter
orangutan…All: LaughterSudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I guess I am the orangutans.
I’m definitely the characters who start the problems. Evangeline: Do you like mangoes? Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I do. I do.
My parents are immigrants from India.
And when I was growing up we would go to India almost every summer to
see their families. They had big
families – my mother had 11 brothers and sisters, and my father had 9 brothers
and sisters – so there were cousins and aunts and uncles and all sorts of
people. And gosh, the mangoes in India
are so luscious and juicy and sweet. But
for me, mangoes don’t just taste sweet, but they remind me of a lot of really
sweet memories. Gracie: So writing about mangoes was
more than just a random choice?Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I don’t think I sat down
and said, “What is my favorite childhood fruit?” When we write, we don’t think about… what is the most significant thing about my
2nd grade year? Our minds just
automatically go to the important things.
I think that happened here a little bit.Lily: Why did you put a yak and
a boar in the book instead of other animals? Were they more than random picks too?Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I am really, really
nerdy. Even though I’m writing a
fictional book about orangutans that get tangled up and roll down a hill, I researched
orangutan’s natural habitats to pick animals that would appear with them. I didn’t want them to be chased by a lion,
because lions don’t live in the same places -- but tigers do. I am already asking you to believe something
that doesn’t make any sense – that these orangutans would go rolling down a
hill instead of finding something else to eat.
Since I’m asking you to believe one thing that’s unbelievable, I feel
like it helps my readers if I give them a nice logical basis. So the first step is to identify all the animals
in the habitat; the second step is to pick which animals are easy to rhyme
with. Yak rhymed really well with things
like “back” and “thwak.” Lily: Why was it a MAMA yak
instead of just a normal yak?Dad: That was a question I had
as an illustrator. Why that adjective...Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I needed another word for
the syllable count. So what’s the
adjective to put in there? She could
have been a silly yak… some other adjective like that. But I also thought her action seemed very maternal. It seemed
very much like what a parent would do. A
parent would come in and say, “Oh my goodness, I’m just going to fix this for
you.”Gracie: That’s what we thought! We thought it was motherly instinct.Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: Good for you! That makes me happy. Sometimes I talk about my inspirations and
motivations, and people look at me like… Really?
The book’s about that? So I like that
you understand why I wrote it that way.Dad: I had just approached that
word from the art side. Okay, she’s a
mama yak. What are the ramifications for
me as the illustrator? Well, I have to
show that she’s a mama. Which means I
have to introduce a baby. But I didn’t
want the poor little baby to be left all alone when everyone else gets tangled
up. So I gave the orangutans a frog
friend that could later keep the baby yak company. But if they both have buddies, the boar should
have a buddy too -- so I gave him a bird.
The number of characters in the book multiplied, all because of one
little word, “mama.” None of those other
little characters would have existed if you’d picked a different adjective.Gracie: So it’s a good thing you wrote
“mama” yak!Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I love how you did
that. For me it also added another
layer. You had all these characters
watching from the fringes, but in the end they share in the reward too. And when I read this book to younger kids,
I’ve seen them identify with those little characters. Younger kids aren’t always in on their
family’s adventure, but they do want to feel like they are part of things. And those characters give them a proxy in a
way that I didn’t think of – well, you know it wasn’t in the manuscript – you
added those. I think it added such a
beautiful extra layer.Evangeline: What is your favorite part
of the book?Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: My favorite scene is when the
tiger gets all tangled up.Evangeline: That’s my favorite part
too!Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I think it’s funny and
unexpected. And you don’t know what’s
going to happen – a little bit worried about how this is going to turn
out... Is there only going to be one
orangutan at the end?Kids: Ha ha heh hah!Dad: That would have been a
very different book.Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: And let me show you my
favorite picture… I love this spread.
How you’ve got the tiger out there floating in the ocean. In my head, I thought the tiger was going to
be eating the mangoes with them. But the
truth is, that doesn’t make any sense.
Tigers wouldn’t do that! So I
think it solved the logical problem of the book. But it also made me think of that movie, Life
of Pi –Kids: GAAAAAASP!Lily: Dad said that! I was like, where is the tiger going? And dad said “He’s going to find Pi.”Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: Oh my goodness!Dad: And they all groaned at
me! The kids all made horrible noises.Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: No, I totally thought that
too! I even called the publisher at one
point and said, “I love the Life of Pi reference.” And they were like…“We don’t know what you
are talking about.”Dad: It wasn’t an intentional
reference when I drew it. This was just
something I said RIGHT before we called you.
And the kids all groaned and shook their heads.Gracie: He was making jokes. “Dad Jokes” are not funny jokes.Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: You guys would get along
with my kids just fine… “My mother is not
funny at all.” And I’m like, “Are
you kidding? I go to schools and I’ve
got 300 kids laughing – everyone thinks I’m funny!” Kids: He hee hee ha…Lily: I have one more question. I noticed that in a lot of your books the
words rhyme. Is there a reason for
that? Is writing in rhyme easier for
you? Or do you just like the way it
sounds?Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: I love the way rhyming
sounds. And actually, yes, it is easier
for me to write in rhyme. It gives
structure. I know I want one verse per
spread, so it forces me to write short and to really focus on the important
things in the story. When I’m not
writing in rhyme and can put as many sentences as I want into a paragraph, I
find that I write stories that are 10 times too long. So for me, it’s easier to be a good writer
when I have rules. Probably because I
went to school to be a scientist. I’m
used to following rules and procedures. Evangeline: I like rhyming stories
better.Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: You can have a lot of fun with rhymes.Dad: Well thanks so much for
talking with us!Evangeline: Yeah thanks!Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen: It was very cool to talk
to you guys.Evangeline: It was good, it was good,
it was good.Lily: Bye!Evangeline: She gave good answers!

jumping tiger, swinging ape; by Evangeline

sticky orangutans, by Lily

the little buddies, by Gracie

Author: Sudipta Bardhan-QuallenIllustrator: Aaron ZenzPublished 2014: Two LionsLike it? Here it is!!!Time for a Giveaway! Leave a comment below about the interview for the chance to win 2 copies of Orangutangled - one for you and one for you to give to a friend - both signed by author and illustrator. We'll announce winners at the end of October... Good luck!

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Z-KIDS

We love the written word. We love art. Children's books are a place where those two things come together beautifully. Here at Bookie Woogie we pick our favorite books, review them, and create some accompanying fan art. We invite you to participate too: please chime in with your thoughts and comments!